The project, conceived by Wikipedia editor John Cummings, will use special barcodes, called QR codes, mounted on the sides of buildings, to allow visitors with smartphones to scan them and instantly access up-to-date Wikipedia entries about all aspects of Monmouth life.

The project, backed by the local county council, also includes Wales’s first town-wide free wifi. It means that, according to the head of Wikimedia UK Roger Bamkin, “the town is likely the only place where a visitor can tour in Hungarian, Hindi, Indonesian, Welsh, or numerous other Wikipedia languages using QR codes”.

Writing on Wikipedia, Mr Bamkin said the project affirmed that it would be possible for Wikipedia to continue to deliver “deliver free information to the planet in over 280 languages”.

“Three of the things that contribute to make Wikipedia work are topic-specific WikiProjects (“let’s write about a town), Wikimedia chapters (“let’s organize throughout the United Kingdom”), and unique ideas (“let’s use QR codes to share content”),” wrote Mr Bamkin. “This week these three things successfully came together to create Monmouthpedia, “The World’s First Wikipedia Town” in Monmouth, Wales.”

The six-month project will culminate with a celebration tomorrow that will see the entire town “bedecked with banners declaring Monmouth as the first Wikipedia Town in the world”.

Mr Bamkin added that the projects success was in part down to the help of “200 businesses, several universities and nearly every school and community group in the area”. Although Wikipedia has collaborated with museums to use QR codes before, Monmouth’s is the first project of its size and will feature more than 1,000 codes in schools, important buildings and shops. Some of them will be on ceramic plaques that should last decades but always link to the most up-to-date information.

“Much of the success of Monmouthpedia comes from its ability to capture the imagination of the Wikipedia community, which has embraced the town virtually. Wikipedia volunteers have contributed nearly 500 new articles in over 25 languages, as well as videos on topics such as the historic Chartists movement,” said Mr Bamkin.

“Physical guides and maps will become outdated, but the Wikipedia articles will always be able to be updated,” he said. “This potential for on-site access to up-to-date information in any language is what makes the Monmouthpedia model so exciting.”